Is Bulgarian prime minister Rumen Radev sizing up the EU’s Orbán-shaped hole?

Rightwing populist’s inconsistent positions on Europe and Russia suggest he is testing how far he can push partners and electorate One evening nine years ago in the Bulgarian town of Balgari, a Brazilian tourist approached the casually dressed, middle-aged man surrounded by bodyguards, bystanders and photographers. “Why are you important?” she asked. “I’m not so important,” he replied. She repeated the question and he admitted: “I’m the president.” Now, in 2026, the rightwing populist Rumen Radev is no longer the president, but the prime minister – the more powerful of the two positions – after his Progressive Bulgaria party secured an overwhelming majority in April’s election. While many in Europe breathed a sigh of relief that month at the demise of Viktor Orbán in Hungary, others wondered if Radev would become the EU’s next disruptor-in-chief. His first months, analysts suggested, have pointed towards a more transactional foreign policy with the US and Europe, and some initial moves that could be seen to benefit Russia. In May, Bulgaria halted its military support to Kyiv, with Radev saying he believed the Ukrainian cause was “doomed”. When 36 coun